Silenced
by Midnight-Cheshire
Summary: The Avengers always have to deal with the weird stuff that goes on, but this might just be beyond that. Everyone thinks that Loki is dead, but that comes in to question when an unfamiliar face shows up with her mouth sewn shut. Soon they all discover that there's a possibility of a second invasion.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

Agent Natasha Romanoff calmly waited for a response, or any sign of acknowledgement from the girl that sat across the room from her. She supposed that constantly being barraged with questions at almost every hour of the day might make anyone want to shut down for a while, but she had proven that she could write well enough, but hadn't offered any other further communication since then.

She had appeared on the main floor of the tower, in the middle of the night. Jarvis alerted the entire team about an intruder, but also informed them that she had fallen unconscious shortly after 'materializing' in the living room.

She reached forward tentatively and picked up the pen. Sliding the pad closer to herself, she wrote four letters. 'Toka.'

"Is that your name?" Natasha asked.

The girl nodded slightly.

"Is there anything that you remember? Anything at all?"

The girl only looked away, allowing her black hair to fall in front of her face, obscuring the stitches the held her mouth closed. They were no longer crusted with blood, but a washcloth was always kept nearby in case even the slightest twitch tore at the sensitive skin.

Natasha believed that the stitches were meant to send some sort of message. They couldn't be broken or cut, and any attempts to do so were met with blood and coughing fits that only made everything worse. They tried to feed her vital nutrients and fluids through an IV, but the needle broke upon contact with her skin, and nothing else they tried worked.

This girl had to be in her late teens, but age hadn't been provided nor confirmed when they tried to guess.

Another agent briefly entered the room and handed Natasha a manilla folder, then left without a word.

While Toka focused her attention elsewhere, Natasha opened the file and proceeded to read the information gathered.

Tests show that subject is, in fact, not human.

She skipped the rest and turned to the next page.

There were several theories as to why Toka's mouth had been sewn shut, but only one stuck out. Only one made sense as to why the cords couldn't be cut. It was a story from mythology, and Natasha read it completely, realization sinking in after she was finished.

Rather than leave as she originally intended to do, she turned back to Toka and asked one more question.

"Do you have any connection to Asgard?"

"She didn't respond to the question."

"Did she respond to any of them at all?"

"One, but I'm positive that she does have some sort of connection to the Asgardians. This can't be coincidental."

"That's one hell of an assumption, Agent."

"The medics couldn't give her an IV, the stitches can't be cut so she can't eat or drink, but she hasn't shown any ill effects to it. Every open wound she had when we found her was completely gone by the next day with little to no scarring."

"She could be a mutant."

"Already looked into that. It isn't possible. She isn't human at all."

_"You will fall."_

_Spinning on her heel, Toka's eyes frantically searched her dark surroundings, searching helplessly for the source of the voice._

_"Who are you?"_

_She looked around, the only source of light being the stars in the distance. The terrain was rocky, but it wasn't exactly Earth-like. It wasn't even planet-like at all._

_"You will all fall."_

_"Show yourself!" Toka commanded. She stood straight, feet firmly planted on the ground. 'Do not show fear' she thought to herself. Inside, she was terrified. She had no idea where she was or who she was dealing with. Suddenly, there was a hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground._

_Whoever was there with her was in her ear, speaking slowly and dangerously._

_"The nine realms will fall to their knees. I will rule over all. I will have my revenge."_

_Toka was dropped onto the cold ground, choking. Standing before her was someone she had never seen before. Someone she could not recognize._

Toka shot up in her bed, eyes darting around the room before she realized that she had only been dreaming. She gently pressed her fingers to her mouth, disappointed to find the stitches still there. Why are you keeping it all from them? They could help! She thought to herself.

It was the middle of the night. No point in bothering anyone right now, she thought.

Unable to fall asleep again, she reached over to the lamp on the side table and turned it on, picking up a book and turning to the marked page. Her room here was small and plain. A large mirror over the dresser, a bedside table, a bed and an adjoining bathroom. She had a few books, but she hadn't been able to read much since she spent most of everyday being 'interviewed' by Agent Romanoff.

For a brief moment, she glanced up at the mirror. Used to seeing the stitches by now, but surprised to see a faint bruise appearing around her throat.

**My first Avengers fanfiction! **

**I do not like this chapter at all. But I promise better ones in the future!  
**

**Review Please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

* * *

_"Look at you. You claim to be a god, superior to everyone, but you are weak."_

_Loki did not dare allow his gaze to meet Thanos'. Poweless, he was subject to whatever punishments the mad titan could muster. When he wasn't there to administer the treatment himself, it was his chitauri soldiers who carried out his punishments._

_Faking his death on Svartalfheim allowed him escape from the dungeons of Asgard, or even death for his crimes, but it also allowed Thanos the opportunity to find him and capture him._

_"You have failed me, Loki. Nothing you say now will ease what is coming to you. "_

_Nothing more was said as the chitauri soldiers dragged him back to his cell and chained him inside. He could not escape. He was far too weak and his magic was severely depleated from being focused on healing his wounds._

_He silently prayed that death would take him and this torture would be done with._

* * *

During the next day's interview, Toka was more open to answering the agent's questions. She scrawled short and simple answers across the page, careful about what she wrote.

_"I remember some of what happened."_ She wrote, turning the pad around so Agent Romanoff could read it.

"Do you remember why you showed up at Stark tower?"

_"Maybe I was thinking about it when I got away. I don't know."_

"What about the stitches?"

_"Some kind of message?"_

"Does it have anything to do with Asgard?"

Realizing that that was one of the few questions that she wasn't going to get away from answering, and shutting down again wouldn't do any good at this point, Toka picked up her pen.

_"I don't know what that means."_ She wrote, irritated.

"Tell me what you remember, then."

In truth, Toka could remember little to nothing. The events of the few weeks that passed before she woke up in the SHIELD infirmary were a blur. But whatever had happened last night, whether it had been a dream or not, tugged at her mind like it was connected to what she couldn't remember, somehow.

_"He kept talking about revenge. He said we would all pay."_

"For what?"

_"That's it, I swear I don't know."_

The entire time, Natasha hadn't looked at Toka once. Finally looking over to her, her expression softened.

"You have to try harder." She said. "If 'he' did this to you, and is talking about revenge, then this could be a serious threat."

_"None of this makes sense though."_

* * *

She thought about the interview for the rest of the day, trying to piece together how the dream was connected to what happened before.

The place she had been seemed almost otherwordly, as dark and cold as it was. It was a place she'd never seen before, in real life or otherwise, and she had seen a lot of otherworldly things. Asgard, though she didn't want to admit it to Agent Romanoff, was her home.

Born and raised there, she could clearly remember the shining golden city and its heavenly sky. She'd walked on the rainbow bridge, touched the ethereal colours that led to the bifrost. Tasted the wonderfully sweet golden apples grown in Idunn's garden. Trained in the ancient art of sorcery and visited other realms such as Alfheim and Vanaheim. These things weren't foreign to her, and neither were the stories of the Asgardians. She knew exactly what the cords that strung her mouth closed were meant to symbolize.

But why her?

Distracted by the pleasant memories of her childhood, Toka didn't notice the first few knocks on her door. She slid off the bed and trudged over to open it, seeing not Agent Romanoff as she expected, but Agent Hill.

Toka looked at her questioningly.

"You're being moved."

About to ask where, Toka stopped when she felt the familiar tug at her mouth. Before any damage could be inflicted, she stopped and waited for Hill to continue.

"SHIELD headquarters is no place for you. You'll be taken to Stark Tower."

'What for?'

"The Avengers currently reside there and can keep an eye on you."

Toka rolled her eyes at the comment, turning back into her room to gather what little she had aquired since her arrival there. At six in the afternoon, she was escorted away from headquarters and brought to the tower in the middle of New York City. Agent Romanoff was already there, dressed more casually than usual, and let her inside.

"Not too many floors and rooms are off limits here, but try to stick to the main floors. Jarvis is Stark's artificial intelligence system, he basically runs the tower."

The elevator ride was short and silent, and when the doors slid open they entered what Toka assumed to be the Avengers' living space. Stark wasn't their, and neither was Banner, but Agent Barton was in the living area and the Captain was trying to figure out the laptop.

"Back already?" Clint asked, surprised to see Natasha.

"No progress."

"It's not really like you could've gotten very far." Clint said, earning a glare from Toka.

Natasha showed her to her room and explained how things worked around the tower. She left Toka to settle in and rest up, leaving for a short mission.

Toka's room wasn't grandiose, but it certainly wasn't small or dainty. The bed was a four poster with a dark wooden frame, with a desk, vanity and bedside table to match. The closet was larger than most standard sized, with many shelves in the back and plenty of room to hang clothes, though there were none. It's not like she expected there to be, she had almost nothing in her possession (every piece of clothing she carried with her were SHIELD issue) and she didn't know any of these people personally.

She had her own bathroom, of course, and a large window on the far side of the room.

She preferred not to get too settled in. She didn't want to stay long.

She was invited to dinner later, but she didn't quite see the point of going. She did hang out for a while in the living area though, channel surfing. When they were done, Stark announced a 'movie night' and had Jarvis make several bowls of popcorn. After piling into the living room to watch, Clint and Tony began to argue about what to watch. The genres to pick from were sci-fi, action and horror.

So while they bickered, Toka snuck over to the dvd collection and slid a random case of the shelf, putting it in the dvd player while no one was paying attention.

"Hey! You can't do that, no one's picked anything!" Tony whined, ignoring the previews before the menu popped up.

Toka shrugged and pressed play, collapsing into the armchair she had previously occupied.

"What is this anyway?" Tony asked, turning his attention back to the screen.

Toka held up the empty dvd case for him to see. 'The Hunger Games'

The next morning, Toka was abruptly awoken when the darkened window in her room suddenly allowed much of the daylight to shine inside. The clock on her bedside table read 9:30 AM, so she elected to get out of bed instead of trying to sleep in.

After a quick shower and changing, she sat at the foot of her bed, watching herself in the mirror. She focused all of her thoughts and energy, a soft gold light enveloping her hands. She raised them to her mouth and gently touched the cords, hoping that the simple spell, though not a spoken one, would remove the enchantment and allow her to be rid of what was restricting her voice.

When the spell came in contact with the enchanted cords, a sharp pain shot through her fingers and hands, the cords seemingly rejecting her attempt to remove them.

Defeated, she left the matter alone for the time being. She could go a little longer with them. For now, she had to attend yet another interview with Agent Romanoff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

* * *

Today's interview had been far more eventful, with people walking through and occasionally interrupting...and Stark interrupting often just to aggravate everyone. This time, however, Toka offered up every information she could remember regarding the situation. The weeks prior to her rescue were only a hazy memory, so not much information could be offered.  
But, whatever, it was Midgard's problem now.

_'I'll stay in contact in case SHIELD needs any more information, or in case anything else comes to mind.'_ She wrote on the notepad she carried.  
Natasha quickly informed her that she did not have the freedom to leave SHIELD just yet.

The issue regarding Toka's 'abilities still needed to be adressed. If she could 'materialize' into a room at the top of a tower with top security, then what else could she do? It was kind of obvious that she could pose a possible threat.  
When Natasha found Toka later that day, she was practically hiding in the tower's library, curled up with a book on molecular physics. She explained what needed to be done and why, and lead her to the prepared training room that Stark recently had added for the team.

A variety of weapons were laid out, several robotic training dummies lined near the far wall. Natasha watched from a viewing room, controlling the dummies' movements. Already programmed to detect patterns and movements in order to fight similarly to a human being.  
Initially, Toka reached for a bow and some arrows, but instead took a few small knives and prepared for the first dummy to attack.

The first few were easily disabled, a fourth knocked her off her feet, preparing to land another blow when she rebounded. On her hands now, she kicked outward and hit it in the chest. Once on her feet again, she hit it again, one of the knives she had protruding from its chest, it shorted out and docked again, unable to continue with the training session.  
Natasha noted quickly that Toka's fighting style had incorporated acrobatics, and that she knew how to utilize small weapons, such as throwing knives, very well.

"You almost took the bow and arrows, do you know how to use them?"  
Toka smiled and nodded, picking the aforementioned weapons up and striding to the other side of the room.  
Each arrow hit the dead center of each target every time.

When it was all over and done with, Natasha stood before the girl with a file in hand.  
" I only need you to do one more thing." she said. "When you arrived here the first time, you displayed extraordinary skill with teleportation."  
_Dead wrong_, Toka thought.  
"Before I can actually file this, I need you to demonstrate that again."  
Toka shook her head. _I can just pretend that I don't know how it happened and she'll leave it alone._

"What do you mean, 'no'? Don't you know how you did that?" Natasha asked, exasperated.  
Toka shook her head again, surprised that the assassin actually believed the lie. She watched Natasha leave without another word, turning back to the stationary dummies when the woman was out of sight. Frustrated, she released a small burst of energy that blew one of the dummies in two, rendering most of the debris unrecognizable.

* * *

Even though he had been in the lab most of the last couple of weeks, he knew something was seriously wrong with Fury's newest 'recruit'. For one, after hacking the SHIELD database (once again), he discovered that Toka was not a new recruit or a junior agent, as most of the team was lead to believe. She was somewhat of a prisoner, in their custody until proper information was handed over, or until she was no longer deemed a threat.  
Two, how could anyone survive so long with their mouth sewn shut and no other way of taking in nutrition. It was physically impossible.  
The original file that wasn't quite as hidden stated that she had regenerative healing abilities, which didn't quite explain much, so after a little more digging he found that she wasn't human.

"Hey, Bruce, come look at this." he said, as soon as his friend entered the lab.  
Bruce sighed and did so, looking at the screens and back at Tony.

"Those are SHIELD files, Tony, how'd you get those?"

"How do you think?" Tony said. He pointed to the files he had recently pulled up. Bruce shrugged. "So?"

"Look at these too." Tony said, pulling up two more screens.

"Those are the scans Jarvis took when Thor and Loki were in the tower. What's that got to do with anything?" Before he could even finish the question, Tony pulled up a third screen.

"These are results of the same scans, only this time, it was that Toka kid instead of Point Break. Bruce, they're dangerously similar."

"So, she isn't just 'not human',"  
"She's Asgardian."

* * *

As per usual, Thor visited the Bifrost observatory. Heimdall, an old friend and the gatekeeper of Asgard, always informed him of the happenings on Midgard. Only this time, Thor hadn't visited according to the usual schedule. Heimdall had sent for him, and the news that was delivered was something he never thought he'd hear.  
After quickly informing his father, Thor traveled to Midgard for a sudden visit with his mortal friends.

* * *

**Review Please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

**Thanks for the favorites and the follows, every body!**

While Bruce was in the lab trying to convince Tony that his discovery needed to be brought to Fury, Toka was in some other part of the tower, attempting to ignore everyone else in the world.  
While trying every spell she could think of that didn't need to be spoken aloud in order to remove the stitches, she was startled to the point of drawing blood when something quite loud hit the roof of the tower. Alarms didn't go off, so it must've been normal? Perhaps yet _another _explosion in the lab?  
Exiting her room, she made her way to the main floor where the rest of the team seemed to be gathered.

_"Isn't there some other way you could get here? Every time that Bifrost thing touches my roof, something breaks!"_

Bifrost?

_"My apologies, Friend Stark, but I have not come here for a social visit."_

"Then what are you here for?" Natasha asked, irritated.

_"You are currently housing an Asgardian."_

Silence.

_"I figured that out." _Tony deadpanned.

_"I knew she was hiding something. She's a pretty damn good liar." _Natasha said_. "Jarvis, what is Toka's location right now?"_

"Right outside the door, Miss Romanoff."

Toka backed away when the door was swung open and an angry Natasha appeared, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the room. She was roughly shoved to the front of the group to stand before Thor, who noticed the cords that strung her mouth closed immediately.

"Who has done this to you?" he asked, first.

"She doesn't know." Natasha answered. "She showed up here in the middle of the night with a bloody face and heavy sedatives in her system. She tried to describe what she could remember, but there's nothing we can use."

"You seem to know each other well." Tony said, looking at the thunder god questioningly.

"This is a long story, my friends." Thor said. Toka looked away from them, but didn't stop him from continuing. "Toka is...my niece."

"Please tell me that means that you have another sibling and that Reindeer games didn't procreate."

**-**

After Thor's revelation, Toka wasn't allowed out of the team's sight. Now she wasn't just a threat, but the child of one of SHIELD's number one enemies. While she quietly ignored them from the kitchen, Thor explained the situation carefully and thoroughly.  
It wasn't uncommon knowledge that most Asgardians were several millenia old, so it didn't exactly surprise them (at this point) when Thor told them that Toka was as well, though still quite young by Asgardian standards.

He and Loki had traveled to Alfheim years ago, on a diplomatic trip with their parents, when they encountered an enchantress their own age. She was beautiful and kind, powerful and skilled in her abilities. Loki was smitten and began to court her, unbeknownst to either Odin or Frigga.  
Soon, the young sorcerer was using hidden passageways between the realms to visit her, and before long they secretly married. Beforehand though, the enchantress, Angrboda, as her name was, revealed that she was actually a jotun in disguise.

Despite what the princes' had been taught as children regarding the race of the frost giants, Loki did not care, for he was truly in love with her. Their relationship was discovered when Toka had been born, and they were forcefully separated.  
Angrboda was banished to Jotunheim, though not before begging the Allfather that Loki be allowed to take Toka back to Asgard with him.

Then, the history of Loki's _other_ children was revealed as well. Odin viewed them all as monsters, the bringers of Ragnarok. As soon as each of them were seen old enough to leave their parent, they were cast out of Asgard. Hela was made queen of Nifleheim, realm of the dead. Fenrir was chained to a rock. Sleipnir was placed in the stables, a common war horse and not seen as a member of the royal family.  
Jormungand was cast into Midgard's ocean, never to return to Asgard.

"And as soon as the Allfather saw fit, Toka was sent away to Nifleheim to live under her sister's rule."

Toka slammed her fist down on the table, eyes welling up with tears. _My brothers and sister are not monsters! _She thought. _And you are a fool to think that they are!_

"You were not supposed to have left your realm, Toka." Thor said.

Toka desperately wanted to say something, and before she realized it, she had tried to. Thin trails of blood dripped from the freshly opened wounds on her lips. Ice spread around her hands on the table, extending outward as she locked gazes with her uncle.

"That's enough!" Bruce interjected.

"Right now that does not matter. If those cords have not been removed already, then I can only assume that they are enchanted." Thor said, changing the subject. Toka looked away, but Natasha nodded.

"If she cannot remove them herself, and I know that I cannot, then I must bring her back to Asgard."

"Thor, she's in SHIELD custody, you can't take her."

Toka silently thanked the agent.

"We must negotiate something." Thor said. "She cannot remain like this. Perhaps Fury will allow one of you to accompany us to Asgard."

**Review Please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

* * *

Natasha, who had been a sort of 'caretaker' to Toka for the last couple of weeks, readily volunteered to be the one to go with her to Asgard. Thor definitely wasn't ecstatic about the arrangement, wanting to return his niece to Nifleheim as soon as the stitches were gone and be done with everything.  
On the roof of the tower they prepared to be whisked away to the Realm Eternal by the Bifrost, and Natasha noticed Toka's uneasiness. She put a comforting hand on her shoulder, offering a brief smile as encouragement.  
Unlike most of the team, she didn't harbor any animosity toward the girl. Whatever they think she had done, or what they thought she was involved in, Natasha knew it wasn't true.  
She somewhat understood what Toka might be feeling. To not be trusted.  
And between them, there was a sort of friendship.

There was a burst of light and colour, and suddenly they were no longer on the roof of a tower in New York, but in space, speeding past stars and nebulae. But the beauty only lasted a few moments, for Natasha soon found herself stumbling over a golden floor. When she steadied herself, she looked around the observatory curiously, taking in every intricate detail etched into the gold.

The bridge was bright, colourful and beautiful. Although solid, it looked as if it could be fallen through, like fragile glass or ice. The pulsating light seemed to shine more as the sun rose further into the sky, illuminating the golden city.

Carried to the palace on horses, Natasha and Toka were led away to the healing chambers almost immediately when they arrived. Thor had disappeared through a pair of large doors and had yet to return to the pair.  
The assassin was ushered to the side as Toka was laid on a narrow bed, a golden mist raised above her like a 3D image. The head healer entered carrying a small wooden box that she set down beside Toka's head.

A small, golden knife (_seriously, what was with all of this gold?!_) was taken from inside the box and handed to the head healer after another had gently taken one of the cords into her fingers and allowed the tip of the blade to slip under.  
Toka stared up at the ceiling, flinching when the first cord was weakened and cut with the blade. Now that the stitches were weak and severed in more than one place, the healers had almost no trouble pulling them through the bleeding wounds.  
Toka gripped the edges of the bed until her knuckles were white, fighting back the tears as the last of the cords were thrown away. The last of the blood was wiped away as the wounds closed themselves, and Toka greedily accepted the water offered to her by one of the healers.

The healers urged Toka to remain in the healing chambers for a while longer, but she brushed them off and left anyway.

* * *

Natasha managed to get lost many times while trying to find Toka again. But she eventually found her way back toward where they entered in the first place, where Thor had been waiting.

"Agent Romanoff, I was just about to look for you."

"What's going on?"

"My father wishes to speak with Toka, I assume she is still with you?"

"She ran off an hour ago."

* * *

There was an air of destruction _everywhere_. She hadn't noticed it when they first arrived here, but it looked as if Asgard had been attacked. Buildings were crumbled, debris being hauled away piece by piece.  
Wreckage from alien ships were being dismantled and carried away, the appearance of them unrecognizable. After walking down the streets for a while, looking around at the damage, she remembered someone at SHIELD talking about an attack on Earth a few months ago, and Toka wondered, "_had Asgard been attacked too?_"

* * *

When Natasha found Toka another hour later, she was at the palace stable, sitting on a blanket it Sleipnir's stall. She seemed to understand what the horse was trying to convey, because she occasionally nodded, but otherwise continued reading to him.

"I've been looking for you."

Toka turned her attention away from the book and asked what for.

"You know what."

Toka rolled her eyes and followed Natasha back into the palace. Once again, she was terrified inside. She knew what Odin thought of her and her siblings, and knew that when he sent her away this time, she would have no way of travelling the realms without the bifrost as she had before.

"What made you want to go to Midgard anyway?"

"Oh, it's simple really." Toka said casually, avoiding eye contact. When the subject wasn't changed or dropped, she reluctantly continued.

"I had to spend a hundred and fifty years on Nifleheim, the realm of dread..."

"Dead. Realm of the dead." Natasha corrected. Toka snapped at her.

"I know what it is! I found that my own lively, adventerous personality was a stark contrast to my bleak surroundings. Nifleheim is, as you felt the need to add, the realm of the _dead_. Its bleak down there. Dark, gray...and it overall smells like the colour brown. I didn't like it there, so Hela allowed me to travel between there and Midgard."

"You could go anywhere on Nifleheim that you wanted, but chose Midgard instead?" Natasha asked.

"Technically, Hela and I were the only truly living beings on the realm. Her undead army and guards don't exactly count. Death doesn't either, because...well, she's Death. You can't be alive if you're Death."

"Death is a she?"

"Death is whatever she wants to be" Toka said, grinning.

"Did you really get that bored?" Natasha asked, redirecting the conversation back to where it had begun.

"I once found myself staring at a spoon. Something had to be done." Toka responded jokingly. They stopped in front of a pair of large doors and waited for the guards posted outside to open them.

* * *

**I promise longer chapters soon, just not yet.**

**Review Please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

**This one is slightly longer than the last few.**

* * *

The problem regarding the _enchanted stitches_still needed to be addressed, but that apparently wasn't an issue with Odin. Only the fact that Toka had been going back and forth between Midgard and Nifleheim for several decades. Natasha thought that she was exaggerating when she said Odin didn't care about his grandchildren and would rather listen to 'mere fortunetellers' than to treat the siblings as family.  
Natasha was forced to stand to the side and watch, unable to go any further than standing near the wall by the door. Thor stayed with her, trying to assure her that whatever judgement Odin passed was justified.  
Toka was able to spend little time telling of her actions on Midgard, and she hadn't even gotten the chance to mention her capture and imprisonment before she was rudely interrupted.

"You will return to Nifleheim to live under your sister's rule and you are not to leave again..."

"I haven't done anything wrong, All-father. I swear it! I was only trying to pass time and keep myself entertained."

"This is as I feared." Odin said. "The freedom you have been allowed shall only bring about Ragarok sooner. More precautions must be made to ensure..."

"WHAT?" Toka yelled. "Can you not tell that Ragnarok will not happen? By what those Norns have told you, it should have already occurred...but it has not! Because it will not."

"Your father..."

"My father," Toka spat, interrupting the ensuing 'holier than thou' 'I am the All-father' rant.

"Was driven mad by the lies fed to him his entire life by _you._ He only wanted to escape the shadow of your favorite son and gain you attention. He threw himself from the Bifrost because of _you_! I hope you're happy, _Grandfather_, for you may very well be the _only _bringer of Ragnarok, if such a thing shall ever exist."

One of the guards standing on either side of Toka roughly grabbed her shoulder. "Do you forget who you are speaking to?" he demanded.

Toka shoved his arm away, and glared at him. "No, but you are forgetting whom you are pointing that sword at!" she said. Thin patches of ice began to form under her bare feet and on the guard's gold chestplate where she had shoved him away. No one else seemed to notice, but Natasha did and she began to wonder what exactly was causing that. It happened once before that she knew of, at the tower, when Thor arrived.

Before any more could be said, she stomped out of the throne room, ignoring everyone's demands to come back. When Natasha and Thor caught up with her, she was fuming. Both tried to speak to her, but she only wanted to speak to her grandmother, Frigga.

"Before you say anything further." Thor said, any thoughts of confronting his niece about her recent behavior gone. "You must know that Asgard was attacked by the Dark Elves, recently."

Toka did not respond, only turning away from them. He explained, sadly, what transpired on Svartalfheim and Midgard. The attacks explained a lot, actually, but not why she had never known. No matter where she was, Hela would have found her and told her that two of their closest relatives were dead.

Toka didn't want to believe a word of what he was saying, but she of all people would know if Thor was lying. He wasn't.

* * *

This time is was just Natasha who followed Toka, this time to the garden, where the demigoddess collapsed on a bench. While the two hadn't exactly been close, any differences Natasha felt they still had were put aside. Because this child needed a shoulder to cry on and she was the only person in the realm who seemed to care enough to give her one.

Toka returned to her old bedchambers later, leaving Natasha standing in the doorway wondering what was going on. Toka ran from room to room gathering things into a satchel. (The thing must have been enchanted, because it should have been completely stuffed by now.)  
Everything from books to clothes and small trinkets found themselves inside the bag, and Natasha glanced around, wondering why Toka suddenly wanted all of this stuff with her.  
She opened a drawer on her vanity and removed two charm bracelets. Each one had charms that looked like real, shrunken down things.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to leave."

"You don't actually think that they'll let us leave now, do you?"

Toka smiled. "They don't have to know. As of right now, both of us are shrouded from Heimdall's sight. He therefore cannot alert anyone of our whereabouts should we leave."

"And where exactly do you plan on going?"

"To find answers. Are you coming, or do I have to leave you here?"

After sneaking past guards and climbing over palace walls to help Toka evade capture and banishment to Nifleheim...again...Natasha thought the way to the hidden passages would be a lot less complicated. The rest of it required hiking through a patch of woods, climbing up, down, and over rocks and boulders.

"Why am I helping you do this?" Natasha asked, annoyed, after slipping down a particularly steep slope.

Toka smiled and looked at her over her shoulder. "Because you know what's right. _Who's _right."

"You said Ragnarok isn't going to happen. How would you know that?"

"Because, I know my family. They wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone trigger the twilight of the gods."

Natasha could have commented on Loki's crimes against Midgard, but she held her tongue. Either Toka didn't know, or she did and talking about it would start a fight.

* * *

**Review Please! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

**Sorry this one took so long! I've been feeling under the weather for a few days, but it's all good now.**

* * *

How unprofessional this all was wasn't Natasha's main concern anymore, considering professionalism was thrown out the window hours ago. This was originally supposed to be a short visit in which Toka's stitches would be removed, that turned into a trial, which has now turned into an escape.

The pair finally reached a series of caves and even though they looked alike, Toka was able to distinguish between them all and choose the one she needed. The inside seemed to have some invisible light source and no end, but in no less than five minutes they walked through an intangible barrier, arriving in a very dull and desolate place that Natasha assumed was Nifleheim.

The terrain here was just as rocky as it was on the other side of the portal. Hard to trudge over and around, constantly slipping and at a very high risk of twisted ankles, they made it to the bottom in less time than they'd hoped. Natasha would occasionally glance toward the young princess and see that she had created smooth ice slopes between each flat surface she intended to step on, rather than climbing down the way Natasha was. It took longer than simply climbing down, but it was probably worth not having as many scrapes and sore muscles.

The ground smoothed much more at the bottom, and before long the assassin noticed how cold this realm actually was.

"Here," Toka said, opening the satchel and reaching inside. Despite the bag's small size, the entirety of her arm below the shoulder disappeared, and she dropped the bag on the ground once she had a bundle of fabric in her grasp. She handed Natasha a cloak and took one for herself, grabbing the bag again and pressing onward.

"It's not as cold as Jotunheim, but all nine of Nifleheim's rivers are completely frozen."

There was a shadow of a palace above the treeline, which meant crossing through the forest of frozen, dead trees and possibly encountering wild animals, though there hadn't been any yet. Didn't she mention that she and her sister were the only truly living beings in the realm?

There was the occasional half skeleton, but no other sign of life.

Even Natasha knew that magic was a complicated thing that required immense skill and concentration. The interviews shed plenty of light on that fact. Yes, living creatures could be teleported. But they had to have knowledge of where they were going, which was precisely what made teleporting multiple people so difficult for someone as young as Toka. Natasha had no clue or previous knowledge as to what Nifleheim was like, and since the spell would affect both of them, they might end up somewhere undesired. Possibly even in between dimensions, from what she figured.

* * *

_"I used to think my career meant I couldn't have many, if any at all, friends. Barton was the exception, and joining the team proved me wrong completely. But being friends with a suspect was another story. Toka didn't seem like danger to anyone at first, but we soon discovered how powerful she actually was, and soon, where she was really from. I suspect that we're both fugitives of Asgard now, but she's told me several times already that Thor won't look here because he knows that she doesn't like it here. 'He's not clever enough to realize that that makes this the perfect place to go.' she says. 'Common sense continues to evade him.'"_

* * *

Even when quiet, Toka found ways to annoy Natasha. With every step she took, long, narrow patches of ice formed that she skated over. She weaved around the rocks and frozen trees, prompting the assassin to warn her about getting them lost. Toka spun around, sliding backwards on one foot and grinned.

"I know these woods like the back of my hand! Not to worry, Agent!"

She turned back around, just in time to see the frozen branch she was about to run headfirst into. Turning sharply, she narrowly avoided it and stumbled over a few large rocks that were protruding from the snow.

She disappeared over a ledge, and Natasha ran after her, stopping only when she saw that Toka hadn't fallen at all. She had cleverly formed a five foot long slide of smooth ice from the ledge, down to the frozen river below.

"I told you!" She shouted from the bank. Nat rolled her eyes and cautiously began to climb down, not trusting the thin ice to hold her.

They reached the edge of the woods in less than an hour, approaching the gates to Hela's palace. Undead soldiers that looked almost skeletal and decayed were posted at the gates, but simply nodded in their direction as they passed. Toka proceeded to go inside, leaving Nat to wait.

* * *

This palace wasn't made of gold, but it wasn't ugly or as bleak as the rest of this realm was. Beautiful floral arrangements enchanted to remain warm and alive grew in large pots along the corridors, vaulted ceilings gave the corridors a breezy feel and portraits depicting various Norse legends adorned the walls. Every door was tall, but the ones leading into the throne room were carved with intricate designs, the edges trimmed with gold and silver with lit sconces on either side.

Toka pushed the doors open and rushed inside, dismissing the guards and approaching her sister's throne. Hela looked upon her with shock, jumping up to greet the younger.

She didn't know whether she was more confused than angry, but Toka had only one question bouncing around in her mind.

Hela questioned her on her whereabouts for the last month and a half, which turned into a long explanation on Toka's part about everything that's happened in the last few weeks and what she'd been told during her short stay on Asgard.

"I would have known if our father was killed." Hela told her.

"And I would not have kept it from you if he had."

"You're suggesting that he's alive somewhere?"

"You mentioned the Chitauri attacking Midgard the last you visited the realm?" Hela asked. "And he was leading them?"

"And that has something to do with it?"

"I must tell you something. While I awaited your return, Death encountered Father, twice. I think they do have something to do with this."

"We can't confirm that, though."

Hela began to pace, expression unreadable, and Toka watched her with uncertainty. "What do you remember about your captivity?"

"Nothing more than a dark cell. When I got out I had some really heavy sedatives in my system. When I woke up everything was fuzzy."

"Capturing you was supposed to send a message to whoever defeated them." Hela said. "And they see Father as the one who caused their failure, so taking him would only make sense, would it not?"

"But that assumption alone isn't enough to prove anything."

"Get some rest. I will help you in the morning." Hela said quietly. Toka nodded and left, going out to tell Natasha what was going on.

* * *

**Review Please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

**This one, for how short it is, took a while to write. Sorry for the late update.**

* * *

Walking through those stupid hidden portals wasn't fun. The one to Midgard dropped them in some hole in the middle of nowhere.

"Focus on the living room at the tower and absolutely nothing else!" Toka commanded, grabbing Natasha's shoulders and staring at her.

Natasha nodded and closed her eyes, picturing the tower.

"This is going to feel weird." Toka said. "It probably won't hurt,"

"Probably?"

"Shut up and focus. Anyway, don't turn your attention elsewhere no matter what. We could end up four feet outside at the top floor if we aren't careful."

Natasha decided that arguing would be pointless. "_I know nothing about any of this!_" she told herself.

Everything began to feel light, colours swirling together and everything else around them vanishing. In a quick second, however, it was all over.

"You're back!"

"What's going on, Nat? Thor said you disappeared!"

"It's a long story." Nat explained, pushing past everyone that had crowded around her and Toka. She collapsed into an armchair in the living room and sighed, exhausted.

"In short," Toka began. "My sister and I have discovered something…disturbing…to say the least."

"And what would that be?" Steve asked, suspicious.

"The Chitauri aren't gone, and they aren't giving up. From what we figured, Thanos wants revenge on those who caused his failure of Midgard's capture."

"That would be us." Natasha added, from where she sat on the other side of the room.

"They have my father imprisoned, and taking me was supposed to send some sort of message."

"This is all just an assumption?" Bruce asked.

"Of course it is." Natasha said. "All we know is that Death 'encountered' Loki twice and didn't return to Nifleheim with his soul either time."

"Death is a person?" Tony asked, confused.

"Death is an entity." Toka answered. "Where is Thor?"

"Here. Jarvis, send Point Break up here."

"_Right away, sir."_

* * *

"We could go on and on about how I 'evaded capture' on Asgard, Uncle, but that doesn't change the fact that you were wrong."

"And," Tony interrupted. "_That_ won't change that you have no idea where the Chitauri are."

"We can't wait for them to just show up." Clint said. "There'll be too many casualties and too much damage. Worse than last time."

Suddenly, everyone's attention was turned toward Toka. They looked at her expectantly, and finally, Thor spoke.

"Surely you know a way to locate the Chitauri?"

"Not that I can think of. Can't SHIELD do something? Don't they keep tabs on everything?"

"You would think so." Tony said. "But aside from what little information we got during the invasion, there's nothing anywhere in SHIELD's database about them."

"I'll look for something. Maybe my sister knows."

* * *

No one expected Toka to know how the machines worked, so when she didn't bother to help rebuild and repair it for the mission, no one bothered to ask why. She simply paced around the lab, occasionally glancing up at the two scientists as they worked.  
Nat was at headquarters, negotiating with the director for the release of the scepter and Thor was guarding the tesseract, only allowing a few trusted agents to so much as glance at the cube. Such a powerful object was not to be left in the hands of just anyone. No, not something that harness the power to destroy entire planets.

After several hours, Toka finally ceased pacing and watched the doorway; two uniformed agents carrying a locked metal case entered and carefully set it down on an empty space on the counter. Natasha followed them in shortly after, standing over them as they unlocked and opened the case. The key was handed to her and she dismissed them, stepping aside to let Toka examine the alien weapon.

Without touching it, Toka turned to face Tony and Bruce and asked, "Is it ready?"

"It's done."

"Set it up." Toka responded, picking up the case and carrying it out of the lab. She brought it to the bunker that had been set up for the rest of the equipment and watched as it was all brought in, set up and hooked up.

With specialized gloves, the tesseract was lifted out of its own case and carefully placed into the monitor, various cords protruding from the sides that connected it to the other machines.  
The team was already suited up and waiting, but none seemed to know how the portal was to be opened. Hoping that it wasn't going to be necessary, but realizing that it was going to be anyway, Toka gripped the golden hilt of the scepter, lifting it out of the case with ease.

She could feel its energy, a power that shouldn't be there, at least, not anymore, not after so long. It pushed at her mind, driving her subconscious into at state that rendered her helpless to the will of whoever initially controlled the scepter.

The first thing Natasha noticed was Toka's sudden hesitation. The young princess' hand began to tremble, just barely, then she turned. Her eyes, once bright green, were clouded ice blue, like they were glowing. She looked at the team, eyes narrowing, and walked toward the tesseract.

No one else seemed to notice the sudden change, until she raised the scepter and touched the tip to the cube, triggering a reaction. Clint recognized what was happening as soon as it started, and realized that no one had initially thought that would work.

"Guys? What's going on?"

"Get down!" Natasha shouted, pushing the nearest person to the ground as a blast of energy shot from the scepter. It collided with the equipment, and Toka dashed toward the portal, which was now shrinking. She jumped through with the scepter, and only Steve, Tony, and Thor were able to follow before the portal was abruptly closed.

* * *

**Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: This chapter contains a flashback that explains everything that wasn't in the previous chapter. Thanks for faving/following and reviewing! It helps a lot to know that people actually enjoy what I've been working on and can think of ways I can improve my writing and the story.**

Bad ideas can happen to anyone right? Even geniuses, super soldiers, and gods, right? Tony wondered that as he, Thor and Steve sat in a dark cell, contemplating ways to escape. Currently, his iron man suit was separated from him, Steve's shield had been 'confiscated', and Thor's hands were bound and covered so he was unable to summon Mjolnir  
The cell had no windows, but a narrow door with many locks and a small slot at the bottom where food or water might be pushed through. Little light seeped in through it, but there were shadows from what they could see, which meant there were guards.

"We beat them before." Tony said, finally breaking the silence. "And there weren't as many this time."

"Maybe," Steve said. "But there weren't as many of us as last time either. And we're on their homeworld, which means they have access to more weapons if they needed."

They paused for a moment when footsteps echoed down the corridor outside, but faded into another direction.

"We walked right into a trap." Thor said.

"The way I see it," Steve said. "There are only two possible explanations."

Tony and Thor, having nothing better to do, paid close attention. "One, the reason the princess was so hesitant to touch the scepter was she knew that it would put some kind of spell on her and control her. Maybe she was right when she said that it was cursed and it wasn't a good idea."

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's just a kid making excuses for her messed up dad."

"Which leaves only one other explanation." Steve added, cutting him off.

"She was working with Thanos and the Chitauri all along, and was using us to give them access to Earth again. She was lying when she said that Loki had been captured and was being tortured. He's either dead like we initially thought, or he's alive and working for Thanos again."

"I know them." Thor interrupted. "Loki may be a liar, and Toka a supposed monster," he said, emphasizing the word supposed (which probably meant that he didn't necessarily believe it anymore). "But neither would lie about such a thing. You did not see what I saw."

"You mean the creepy eyes thing? I think we all saw that. Can't they shapeshift?"

"I saw that same look in Agent Barton's eyes when he was under Loki's control, it is not something so easily faked."

"Well, if it isn't," Tony said. "And it's really mind control, then we can just hit her over the head really hard, right? Natasha called it cognitive recalibration."

"How do you suppose we do that?" Steve asked, raising his cuffed hands for Tony to see. "We're shackled and chained to a wall."

"I know, kind of primitive for a race that's supposed to be advanced…"

"Off topic, Stark."

"Right, so we find something to pick the locks." Tony shrugged.

This time, when they paused, there were several sets of footsteps approaching the cell, one sounding like it was struggling against the others. Another prisoner, perhaps? The locks clicked and the door hissed as it slid open, three silhouetted figures standing in the bright lights of the corridor.  
Two were hunched over, hissing to each other in a garbled language that sounded nothing like coherent words. The third was roughly shoved inside, stumbling and falling to the floor as the door was slammed shut and locked again.

Vision adjusting to the darkness again, they quickly noticed that it was not another prisoner, but Toka, who had been put in there with them.

Around her wrists were heavy braces, but they weren't connected. She paced the cell, ignoring the other three occupants, and tried several times to pull the door open, cursing under her breath that she couldn't use her magic.

Finally, she gave up and leaned against the far wall, sliding down into a sitting position. Clouded gray/blue met brown and blue, for a moment, but she looked away, possibly at the wall behind them. Her expression revealed no emotion, no sign that thoughts passed through her mind. She looked calm and composed, but it was still unnerving.

In her mind, however, she was fighting. One half of her thoughts were telling her to do one thing, while the other half was practically screaming at her not to.  
Not even Thor tried to speak to her, for he had seen that same look in his brother's eyes during the first invasion.

_When Toka once again passed the skeletal and half decayed guards that protected her sister's palace, she was not accompanied by any Midgardian, but by a couple of nervous looking Asgardian soldiers.  
They were quickly allowed entry, and ran into Hela in the main halls.  
The undead maids that were with her were dismissed when the queen noticed the urgency in her sister's movements._

"_You have returned sooner than I imagined."_

"_I need your assistance, Hela. Two things, really. Big things."_

"_Stop wasting time, sister."_

"_I need you to convince Odin to release one of the infinity stones to SHIELD for a while." Before Toka could even finished her request, Hela interrupted._

"_You know the power those stones possess will not be so easily handed over to any Midgardian, let alone _you._"_

"_Not to me. To Thor, Odin trusts him enough. It's the tesseract, we need it."_

_Hela sighed. "I shall try, now what is the other 'big thing' that you require?"_

"_I need to know if you can locate Thanos. I suspect that he will not be on the Chitauri mothership, seeing as it was destroyed, but I doubt that he will be on their homeworld."_

_Hela nodded, leading the small group away toward the library. Disappearing into the shelves and stacks of old books, Hela returned some time later with a very old and worn tome with frayed edges and yellowed pages. _

"_There may be something in here that can help." She said, setting it down on a small table._

"_From what I can understand, Thanos wants you to believe that he wouldn't hide on the Chitauri homeworld. I strongly suspect that he is, but we need to confirm it."_

"_There's a spell in there for that?"_

"_Possibly. If one does not shield their mind, another can easily enter it and read their thoughts, find hidden objects and locations, it's very complicated."_

"_I've never attempted such a thing. Not even Father has."_

"_As far as we know." Hela added. "He's powerful enough to do it. So are you and I."_

"_You are attempting this yourself?"_

"_I am far more experienced, you are powerful enough to try, but you would risk something going horribly wrong."_

Review Please!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

**AN: Thanks for faving/following and reviewing! It helps a lot to know that people actually enjoy what I've been working on and can think of ways I can improve my writing and the story.**

* * *

"You can fight this."

Startled from her half-asleep state, Toka looked around the cell for the source of the voice. It couldn't have been Stark, the Captain, or Thor, they were whispering to each other, perhaps about an escape plan that she couldn't hear. No, the voice belonged to a woman.

"Why are you here?" Toka asked, earning a confused glare from Steve.

"We're here because of you!" Stark responded, annoyed. Powerless without his suit, he was unable to escape the restraints. Thor's were probably specialized for him, so he couldn't just break them, and even though Steve was a supersoldier, he was still only human.

Toka only rolled her eyes in response, opting not to speak to the voice aloud again. If they couldn't hear it, then who's to say it wasn't just in her head.

"You're not real."

"Of course I am."

"You died."

"Death works in mysterious ways."

Toka thought about that statement, but only for a moment. Death was actually not a _bad _entity. She was a very kind soul that just happened to be commanded by nature. And if she wanted to, she could very well bring back the soul of someone who had died in order to help another.

When Toka looked up from the floor, which she had been watching for a few minutes, she saw one person she never expected to see again. Her grandmother.

"But why would you come here, of all the gods-forsaken places in the universe. We are prisoners. I of my own mind."

"Because I can help you. Child, this control over your thoughts and actions can be fought."

"I doubt that."

"Your father fought it, and so did everyone under his command during the invasion." Frigga stated, kneeling down beside Toka.

"What is Valhalla like?" Toka asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"It is the most beautiful place of all the nine realms." Frigga said with a questioning tone. "But why…"

"Do you think I will go there when Thanos has me killed?"

Frigga was taken aback by the question, and wrapped her arms around Toka's shoulders in a cold but oddly comforting hug.

"Why would you say such a thing?"

"I am unfortunately unable to control my actions. My only solace is my mind, and Thanos nor the Chitauri have use for me, which is why I have been thrown in this cell."

"I can give you a small window of opportunity. Use it well."

"What are you talking about?"

"The restraints on your arms are only restricting your magic, not your strength. They do not expect you to escape their control and break them."

Frigga was gone in another instant, and Toka wondered if it had all really been in her head. A mind control induced hallucination. She couldn't see it, but the cloudy blue in her eyes faded away, revealing the hidden bright green, and she stood.

Stark, Rogers and Thor were watching warily now, while she hit the braces against the cell wall until they cracked and finally broke. The pieces fell to the floor with a clatter, and the gown she had been wearing since her most recent visit to Nifleheim was replaced with armor.

Sandals were replaced with heavy combat boots, blue silk replaced with metal, chain-mill and gold.

"What the hell is going on?" Tony asked.

Toka came over, broke the chains and unlocked Tony and Steve's restraints with the end of a small dagger that had been hidden in her boot. Unlocking Thor's required a little more effort, and a spell, but they were all soon free of the chains and shackles.

"I'm confused." Steve said, eyeing Toka suspiciously.

"Don't be." She said. "If, in the next few minutes, I turn against you – again – hit me, really hard, over the head."

"How do you know that will work?"

"Agent Romanoff said it worked on Barton and Selvig."

"You know about that?"

"I asked what happened during the invasion. She made sure I knew every horrible thing about my father." Toka shrugged.

They stood for a while, before Toka spoke again.

"Those doors are reinforced so…"

Before she could even finish, Thor backed up a few feet then slammed into the cell door, effectively breaking it down and knocking out the one Chitauri guard that had been standing watch.

"Or you could do that."

"Do you know where our stuff is?" Tony asked.

"Obviously, Mjolnir is still wherever Thor dropped it, but your armor and the shield are actually being stored a couple of rooms away."

* * *

Unlike they had previously thought, their belongings hadn't been locked away for safe keeping, or haphazardly thrown into storage, but instead, had been set up in some sort of trophy room.

Ignoring the disturbing amount of battle souvenirs, they took their things, suited up, and left.

"This is just as I feared." Toka said, looking around a corner to make sure it was safe to keep going.

"What? Everything is empty, there's no one around." Steve said, looking confused.

"Exactly." Tony said.

"That means they are preparing for battle. And with the portal ready to be opened on Midgard, it will be too easy. This time, no one on the other side is prepared for it." Thor said. Toka nodded, but staggered back.

"I can feel it already."

"The mind control?"

"I suppose you could call it that. But yes. Thanos would rather kill me than use the mind control to his own benefit, but I would still readily go back once it has completely taken over."

"And just hitting you in the head fixes that?" Tony asked. "Wouldn't magic be the better option?"

"One would think."

She was obviously no threat to them now, so none of the three Avengers present were comfortable actually trying to hurt someone that was helping them. Steve especially.

"If none of you will do it, hand over the shield and I'll do it myself." Toka snapped, almost sarcastically.

"I'd still have a problem with that."

"I wouldn't."

A mysterious newcomer suddenly grabbed the red, white and blue shield from the captain, and without much warning, whacked it against the back of Toka's head, effectively knocking her out.

"What the hell? Who are you?!"

"Forgive me, Man of Iron," the mysterious woman said, handing the shield back to Steve. "But my sister is right. That was the only way to prevent her from being controlled by the scepter once again."

"Sister? Are you that half-dead chick from mythology?" Tony asked.

"Queen Hela, of Nifleheim, and I have brought reinforcement."

* * *

**TADA! **

**Queen Frigga makes an appearance! What do you think? Was it really her, or was the mind control screwing with Toka's mind? Or maybe something else? And Hela to the rescue!  
Don't forget to leave a review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Marvel or any of its characters. Toka belongs to me.**

**AN: Thanks for faving/following and reviewing! It helps a lot to know that people actually enjoy what I've been working on and can think of ways I can improve my writing and the story.**

* * *

"Reinforcements?"

"I have brought along a small army to aid you in your battle against Thanos' army." Hela said, laying her sister's head in her lap.

"You have no time to rest, as they are attempting to open the portal now. When my sister awakens, the fight will ensue."

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of Chitauri were headed their way from another corridor that branched off of this one, coming to see why the prison guard hadn't been heard from.  
Hearing the hushed voices, they quietly approached the corner, waiting a few seconds before revealing themselves, with weapons drawn and pointed at Tony and Steve's heads.

Hela glared up at them and carefully got to her feet, slowly raising her hand up and grabbing one of the Chitauri's wrists. It tried to pull away, but her grip tightened, and it fell to its knees, breathing hard and raspy, before collapsing. Dead.

The other one turned its focus to her, backing away, only to be knocked out by Steve.

"Where's this army of yours?"

"Outside, fighting."

Hela picked her unconscious sister up and motioned for the others to follow her. She opened another cell, an empty one, and they went inside. Toka began to stir when she was laid down on the floor, rubbing the back of her head and groaning.

"I told you it would work." She grumbled, sitting up and brushing loose hair out of her face.

"Here," Hela said, conjuring a shield and sword in either of her hands. "Short range weapons. I have brought an army to help you."

"Since when have you known how to wield a sword?" Thor asked, confused.

"Since Odin sent me off to Nifleheim. Hela taught me." Toka responded, matter-of-factly, and crossed her arms.

"So, why is it that Odin hates all of Loki's kids?" Tony asked. "Loki might be the bad guy, but so far, neither of these two seem too bad."

"He believes them all to be monsters."

"You did too." Toka mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for Hela to hear.

"The Norns predicted that each them would play a part in the triggering of Ragnarok." Thor continued, but was interrupted again.

"Which, according to mythology, should have already happened."

_I'm pretty sure I know what the real deal is with that, _Toka thought, bitterly. _Odin saw each of us as a threat to Thor's throne. _

"We haven't much time." Hela said, donning her own armor with a flick of her wrist. "Follow me."

She led them down several corridors, disabling several remaining guards (in her case killing them), and finally reaching a much larger space outside where the Chitauri fought against soldiers that looked like they had crawled out of their graves.  
Thor summoned Mjolnir, which smashed its way past a dozen or so Chitauri that were in its way. The aliens had defeated much of Hela's army, but suffered just as much, if not more, losses.

Hela stuck to using her magic, able to take down no more than a few dozen before exhausting herself. Toka immediately came to her aid, briefly covering her with her own body and shield while three Chitauri soldiers fired at them with their tesseract-energy guns.

There were actually few of those weapons left, most of them having been left behind on Earth or destroyed during the First Invasion. When the firing briefly ceased, Toka took the opportunity and swung out with her sword, the blade slicing across the chests of two of the aliens and embedding itself in the side of the third. She kicked the weapons as far from the fray as she could, helped Hela stand and led her away.

She spun around, kicking another Chitauri in the head, then stabbed it through the chest when it regained its balance and tried to shoot her. Hela picked herself up and blasted an approaching trio with energy, knocking them back several yards.

"This isn't good! They're retreating!" Toka said, killing one that ran past her in an attempt to join its comrades as they filed toward the portal site.

"That means they have accessed the tesseract from the other side. The portal is about to open." Hela explained.

"Trying to get past them is suicide." Toka said, stabbing one last Chitauri when it passed her.

"I will bring you back to Midgard the same way I brought my army here."

* * *

"That's insane." Tony deadpanned, stumbling into the secured chamber where the tesseract and other portal equipment was being kept.

"How'd you get back here? The portal closed." Bruce asked.

"Magic is an interesting thing, don't you think?" Toka asked, appearing from behind the three avengers, along with her sister, Hela.

Natasha, prepared for their return, drew her gun and shot at her. One bullet struck the girl's shoulder, but she didn't fall.

"The hell, Natasha? That hurts!"

"Mortal weapons can't hurt us." Hela said. "Besides, she is no longer under their control."

"Sorry." Natasha said. "Couldn't risk you attacking us." She paused, looking at where the bullet hit Toka. The bullet lay on the ground, a small hole in her tunic, but no wound.

"Where's Loki?"

"Still their prisoner." Hela said. "We were outnumbered. But we need to be prepared, they have access to the tesseract and are about to reopen the portal."

* * *

**Review Please!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Marvel or any of its characters. Toka belongs to me.**

**AN: This chapter did not turn out how I hoped it would. I might rewrite and re-post it in the future, but here it is for now. Thanks for faving/following and reviewing! It helps a lot to know that people actually enjoy what I've been working on and can think of ways I can improve my writing and the story.**

* * *

"_We're_ outnumbered." Natasha pointed out. "SHIELD is gone. The Triskelion is _gone_. We have no backup."

"We have to shut everything down, **now.**" Tony said, going over to the monitors that Bruce was looking at.

"Whatever it's doing, we can't control or stop it," another scientist, who was trying to help shut down the tesseract, said, allowing access to the computers. The cube's energy levels were fluctuating to dangerous levels, and the air in the room was cackling with energy, blue sparks exploding across the room where the portal had opened previously.

As if on cue, alarms started blaring all throughout the helicarrier, warning all aboard that there was danger. Through the window, Thor looked out into the corridor and notice the same thing happening at the end.

"It's happening all over the place!" Steve said. Agents ran around frantically, trying to contain ensuing destruction.

"We were too late." Hela said.

"Shut it down, shut it down!"

"We're trying!"

"Damn it, even if you close this one, the other ones are going to stay open. Thanos has something on the other side that's messing with your tech. I didn't know what it was before, but…"

"You didn't think that was important?" Tony snapped.

"I'm sorry if I was out of it for a few hours." Toka said sarcastically.

"Stop!" Natasha shouted. "You see those? They are going to let the Chitauri invade earth, _again_. The place that we fought so hard to protect. Shut this one down," she said.

"And I'll close the others from the other side." Hela finished.

"Hela…" Toka began, concerned that her sister would be going in alone.

"I will find father, close the portals, and return here safe."

"I know as well as you do that there will be soldiers waiting for you there, even if most of them are coming here."

The portal was open, completely, and Chitauri began to flood the room. While Tony and Bruce worked to close the portal again, the others fought off the alien soldiers, forcing the rest to retreat back into the portal

The portal rapidly shrunk and grew in size before they successfully closed it. However, keeping it closed was the problem.

"Shit, we can't move it."

"_You_ can't." Toka said, reaching over the machines and carefully lifting the tesseract out of its place, sending small bursts of electricity through her fingers and hands up her arms. The surface of the cube burned at her skin, but she focused on encasing the cube in ice, temporarily preventing it from affecting the machines and other portals for too long.

The case was rushed over to her, and she carefully set it in. The various spells cast on the container preventing it from affecting anything at all. She handed it to Bruce.

"Hide this away. Protect it." She said, then turned to her sister.

"I'm going with you."

"Let's go then," Hela said, grabbing her sister's wrist and dragging her out to the nearest portal. "There's no point in arguing with you. Even when you're wrong you're persistent."

* * *

"I hate how quiet it is here." Toka commented, poking her head around a corner to make sure the corridors were clear.

"Would you rather we be fighting again?" Hela asked, brandishing her sword.

"I hate this place."

"I will ensure that these criminals receive the punishment they deserve when they enter my realm." Hela assured. Pairs of Chitauri marched around, guarding the cells and vaults, quietly mumbling to each other.

Hela stayed in front of her sister, eyes darting around at their surroundings while the younger of the two looked into all the cells. Most were marked with numbers or symbols, ones that neither could understand. Almost every single one of them containing a prisoner, but none that they recognized.  
They wound up trying to get down to the lower levels, prying open the heavily locked doors (in Toka's case destroying the locks).

* * *

"You thought you were going to come here, find that pathetic _god_ and simply leave?"

Toka reeled around and beat on the door with all her might, trying desperately to open it. This had been a trap, she figured out, but too late. This room was fairly large, housing strange machines that were powered by remnant tesseract energy from when the cube was actually in his possession.

Hela shouted from the other side, trying just as hard to get in and help her sister, but to no avail. The machines here were what was holding the portals open, and Toka desperately hoped that the Avengers _and whatever was left of SHIELD _were faring well in the battle.

"You will not escape."

Eyeing the machines, then glancing back at Thanos, she formulated a plan, an effective, albeit stupid one.

"Maybe I won't try."

She ran at him, sword held defensively at her side, but leapt aside when he attacked, the energy blast smashing into one of the machines, destroying it.

"Hela!" she shouted. "Keep going! I've got this!"

"I don't believe you!" Hela called back, tone laced with fear. Toka could hear fighting on the other side, which meant the remaining Chitauri had found the queen of the dead.

Hela fought her way through the small group of soldiers that had surrounded her, either killing or incapacitating them. She desperately wanted to save her energy for helping Toka fight Thanos, but the stubborn little princess demanded otherwise.

Every time she passed one of those blasted portals, she heard an explosion from behind her, followed by a portal collapsing on itself, sending any of the Chitauri near it flying backward into a wall or into someone else.

"Ha!"

Hela spun on her heel, and looked back in the direction of the room Toka had been trapped in, the metal door bent and on the ground, Toka running from the scene.

"Run!" she yelled, dragging Hela down the corridor, forming a thick wall of ice to delay Thanos' chase and get farther, faster.

Toka cursed under her breath, then spotted a single Chitauri soldier staring at them from the other side of the room. It raised its gun, and Toka looked behind her at the portal, wishing she had managed to close them all earlier.

"No…." she braced herself for the impact, finding herself no longer in the Chitauri's dark, smelly prison, but in the fluorescent lights of the helicarrier.

Natasha was there and helped her stand. "Most of the portals are closed now…"

"I know."

"And most of the Chitauri's army is dead. The rest of the portals are being guarded."

"Good. Where's everyone at?"

"Why?"

"Don't have time to explain, but we actually need all the help we can get."

* * *

**Review Please!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters.**

**Sorry this one took so long! And I am definitely not proud of this chapter.**

* * *

The sound of battle was louder now, and getting closer.  
Someone _else _was here.  
Gunfire. Clattering metal. Yelling. _Thunder. _Good gods, did Thor bring his _Avengers _here? Was that even him?  
Loki couldn't care less anymore, to be honest. He just wanted to die. Anything was better than being here. Thanos had relinquished control over his mind months ago, allowing all of the guilt and shame to flood his mind, all the while suffering the Chitauri's torture. Knowing that they would eventually kill him. Kill his family. And then go back to Midgard to claim revenge on them.  
Every day, horrible thoughts were planted in his head. He had no idea which were actually his, and which were part of his torture. He just wanted them all to go away. If he could escape, he would. But he was shackled to a wall, magic restricted and weak from the several months he had been here. A long time ago, Loki came to the conclusion that _there was no hope._

The cell was opened, a pair of Chitauri guards rushed in. _Either to kill me or to move me, _Loki thought, lowering his gaze to the floor. A shadow cast across the floor from the bright doorway, but he didn't look up at who it belonged to.  
There were two loud pops, cries of pain from the two Chitauri guards before they stumbled to the floor, unable to move as they lay dying.  
Loki did look up, but the two new figures were hard to make out. One of them ran forward and unlocked the shackles that restricted his power, the metal braces falling against the wall. He felt a surge or energy flow through him, redirecting itself to slowly begin healing his open wounds.  
He was carefully lifted from the floor, supported by both of the newcomers. His hair was matted with dirt, sweat and blood, and his clothes torn and hanging loosely from his weak and frail form. The smaller wounds began to stitch themselves together - a disgusting feeling, especially in this state - but the other ones would take some time.

He was loud out of the cell, light and sound assaulting his senses. When his vision cleared, and the dizziness faded considerably, he steadied himself and leaned against the wall. Standing in front of him was his youngest daughter, Toka, and SHIELD's assassin, Agent Romanoff.  
Barton was close by, and Toka instructed the two agents to move Loki out of harm's way. _He hated that._  
Despite weak protests and struggle, he was dragged away. But he still saw Thanos, watching the battle, grinning maliciously. He didn't even care that his own army was being crushed.

* * *

Toka's sword was knocked out of her hands mid swing, clattering across the floor as she fell to the ground. Natasha slid a gun across the floor to her, which she picked up and fired, striking her would-be killer in between the eyes. She jumped to her feet, and shot three more Chitauri before lunging to the side and swiping her sword off the floor.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?" Tony asked, blasting a couple of the remaining Chitauri with the suit's repulsors.

"What do you think I've been doing the entire time I've been on Earth? Watching sunrises for a century?"Tony shook his head and kept fighting.

* * *

"THOR, YOU OAF!"  
The thunder god was unconscious. Toka muttered curses under her breath, glaring at her uncle.

"_What's going on, Toka?" _Natasha's voice asked, through the small communicator in her ear.  
"Thor made an error in judgment. _As usual._"  
"_The heli-carrier is almost cleared. What's going on there, now?"_

Toka looked around. "Still fighting." she grumbled, shielding herself and Thor from additional fire from the Chitauri with a near crumbling wall of energy.

She looked around at the battle scene. Tony's suit was covered from head to boot in dents and jagged gashes, Natasha and Clint, of course, weren't there any more, and all Steve had to fight with were his fists and his shield.

Thanos' wicked laughter at their impending defeat rang in Toka's ears. "You sick, twisted son of a bitch." she growled, leaning down and grabbing the handle of mjolnir. Without a second thought, she slowly lifted the hammer off the ground and swung it at the Chitauri that were closing in on her with almost bone crushing force.  
Blood curdling anger.

Hela watched, horrified, as a sword, belonging to none other than the mad Titan, was driven through her little sister's shoulder, barely missing the young girl's heart.  
Toka didn't dare move, but glared at Thanos.  
"You cannot kill me." He said, grinning. Toka's own sword was on the ground, at her side, stained with the blood of Chitauri soldiers.  
Hela's heart dropped through the floor. Many years ago, after Thanos had been killed and resurrected, Hela had forbidden him from death, or ever entering the realm of the dead. That was by Death's suggestion. She saw her mistake now, but could not undo the past.

"I can!" she said, taking Thanos' sword and impaling him with it. "And this time," she muttered, only loud enough for him to hear. "Death will not resurrect you. I will punish you for everything you have done. You will _pay_ for what you have done to my family and to the realms they protect!"

Hela twisted the blade, allowing the titan to fall to the ground, dead. Hela extended a hand to her younger sister, who gladly took it and stood. The two went back to the rest of the team, watching the remaining Chitauri flee.  
A soft glow emitted from Toka's hand as she held it to the bleeding wound on her shoulder, then removed it. The bloodflow slowed and the skin stitched itself back together, and soon there was nothing left but a scar and fresh blood.

"That's nasty." Tony commented.

"Shut up, Stark. We've got to close the rest of the portals."

* * *

An arrow flew through the air, effortlessly passing through the last remaining portal, the arrowhead detonating as soon as it was embedded in the last machine, rapidly closing the portal.

"Toka, " Thor started. "You will be returning to Asgard, as will the tesseract _and _Loki."

"The tesseract can go, fine. But I'm not. And I don't think it's such a good idea that you bring my father either."

"She's right." Natasha cut in. "Right now Loki can't be moved. And Toka is an asset to this team and to SHIELD."

Thor sighed.

"But I trust that you can convince Odin to leave us alone." Toka said, smiling. "Because you know what's right."

* * *

**AN: THE END! **


End file.
